Future of online shopping moving towards in-fridge delivery

It was the last month when Walmart partnered with Google for voice based shopping using Google assistant. Walmart is moving one step ahead to test in-home delivery. If you have ordered something on walmart and you are not at home, Deliv driver will not leave your package at door but deliver it inside the house using one time passcode of your smart lock.

Surprised? That’s true.

Walmart is partnering with August Home, one of the leading smart home accessory and smart lock provider, to test in-home delivery. Walmart will start testing this with August home customers in silicon valley, all of whom have opted-in to participate in testing this new concept. And they want to do more in the future by delivering groceries and other orders in whatever location works best for their customers – inside the house for some and in the fridge/freezer in the garage for others.

These tests are a natural evolution of what Walmart is all about – an obsession in saving our customers not just money but also time, making our customers’ lives easier in the process. What might seem novel today could be the standard tomorrow. This may not be for everyone – and certainly not right away – but we want to offer customers the opportunity to participate in tests today and help us shape what commerce will look like in the future.

How it works

Basically, Walmart will start testing this with August Home Customers. Suppose, you are a August Home customer and you don’t have time to buy grocery items for your home. You ordered this on Walmart. Deliv driver will pick items and go to your home for delivery, ring the doorbell, if no one answers then Deliv will have a pre-authorized one time passcode to open the smart lock.

As a owner you will have control over the activity. The moment Deliv driver will ring the bell you will receive the smartphone notification. Deliv will open the door, unload the items into kitchen or even in fridge(the item which is required to put in fridge) and leave. The moment he/she will leave, you will receive the confirmation that door has been locked.

The best part in this process is, you choose to see the whole activity in your August app using your security cameras.

The company didn’t say what this new service would cost, instead noting that pricing is something that the experiment will focus on. In other words, Walmart will try to determine what price a customer is willing to pay for this added convenience.If the tests were successful, Walmart would add other smart home device makers to the list of supported device in the future.